The Way Clear
by AmazinglyMe
Summary: Angelina Johnson is in entering her sixth year at Hogwarts when the TriWizard Tournament is announced. When she becomes the Hogwarts champion, how will it effect her friendships, especially with Fred Weasley? Pairings are sort of evident in Chapter One.


_A/N: Wow. This thing has been in the works for a long time. I don't know. Eight months? A year? Not sure. But here is the first chapter in all it's glory. Oh, and first, the promised summary. _

_Summary: When Angelina Johnson puts her name in the Goblet of Fire, she doesn't know what she's getting herself into. Only when the goblet spits her name back out and she becomes Hogwarts champion, do she and her friends begin to find out. Excitement, adventure, danger, and even the threat of death await a TriWizard Champion, and neither Angelina or her friends -- Fred and George Weasley, Lee Jordan, Katie Bell, and Alicia Spinnet -- are quite ready for everything the tournament will bring them. From dragons to dances, their friendships will be strained and their skills tested. An AU set during Goblet of Fire and focusing on this group of friends, and what would have happened if Angelina Johnson had been chosen Hogwarts Champion, sans any threats from Voldemort being involved in the Tournament.  
_

* * *

_Four Letters From Angelina Johnson, Hastily Written and All Sent on The Same Day (August 28th, 5:30 AM)_

Dear Alicia,

Have you heard from the twins? I'm writing them now. Please write me back as soon as you can Leesh, at least if you have.

- Angelina

Dear Katie,

Heard from the twins yet? Please, please let me know soon if you have. I'm writing them now.

- Angelina

Dear Lee,

Heard from the twins? Please tell me ASAP if you have.

- Angelina

Fred and George --

Are you two alright? Is your family? I read the Prophet this morning, obviously, and it makes it sound pretty grim. Write me back right away if you're alright, please. We're all really worried.

- Angelina

_Letter From Fred and George Weasley to Angelina Johnson, Sent on August 31st_

Angelina --

We're fine! We're sorry we didn't write back sooner, but things have been a mess around here to tell you the truth. First there was mum panicking, and then all the yelling, and the further confiscation of various items we worked rather hard to create (more on that later) and they've been running Dad ragged at the Ministry.

Anyway we're scribbling this now, the night before we catch the Express, which seems kind of pointless, but we're hoping it'll get to you. Maybe we'll charm Errol or something. Do you think we could get away with it?

'Course we could, you're saying, you're the glorious Gred and Forge, pranksters extraordinaire, dashingly handsome, and inescapably clever.

Why thank you Ange, we didn't know you thought so much of us.

We are sorry to have worried you Angie, but we're fine, and so's everyone else. We'll see you tomorrow!

- Fred and George

* * *

The sun was tentatively peering over the horizon, shedding a grey, pre-dawn light over everything as Angelina Johnson stared out her window. She had been up since four that morning, and still nothing. She had gotten a very brief letter from Alicia, which had read, "No word yet, let me know if you hear anything," and that was it. Now she sat slumped against her window, half-asleep and scanning the sky for owls. 

She couldn't help but glance down at the Daily Prophet article, which sat on her desk. She had torn it from the paper in a fit of fright and anger. She didn't want to read it, but the headline screamed up at her in the dim half-light.

_Death Eater attack at Quidditch World Cup_

She blinked hard and rubbed her eyes, tired and tired of the swirling uncertainty and fear in her stomach. The Weasleys had gone to the Quidditch World Cup. Fred and George, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Ron, and Ginny. Fred and George...

She'd written to them the minute she'd read the article. Her mother had woken her up at 5:00 in the morning. She was a Healer at St. Mungo's and often had to leave for work early. But she almost never woke up her three daughters to say goodbye, insisting that they needed their sleep. So when she had been shaken awake when it was still dark, Angelina had known something was wrong.

She'd imagined a fire maybe. Or maybe Emma was sick and mum needed someone to watch her while she called to take time off work. But instead her mum had muttered a quick "Lumos" and handed Angelina the paper, the worry lines next to her eyes standing out.

Angelina had scanned the headline and felt the bottom drop out of her stomach completely. "Death Eaters? But they don't -- I mean You-Know-Who hasn't been in power for ages. What --"

"I don't know." Mum had said quietly. It wasn't often that Angelina saw her as worried as she herself was. "But don't tell Emma."

Angelina had nodded, still processing the article, skimming the length of the page for a name, a picture, something that would tell her if the Weasleys were alright, but there had been nothing.

And so at 5:30 she had found herself dashing off sentence long letters to her five best friends, desperate for some kind of reassurance. Three days had come and gone and now she was sitting at her window at this ungodly hour waiting for news. The Prophet still hadn't said anything helpful. It had been some kind of Muggle taunting stunt, but there was no news of who had been injured. No deaths reported anyway. Still, Angelina swallowed hard every time she saw the torn edges of article.

Her eyes itching from lack of sleep she rose and stretched, her back and neck sore. She was tired of waiting for an owl that was obviously not coming. She was determined not to imagine _why_ some kind of explanation hadn't come. They must just be busy.

Of course, she thought quickly, nothing bad had happened.

It was four in the morning. She almost laughed. This was the earliest she'd ever been up in the summer.

She glanced at her bed and frowned, then impulsively got up, pulled her bathrobe around her, and set off down the hall to her mother's door and knocked.

"Come in."

"It's me."

"Morning Angie." Her mother said softly and sleepily. A minute later she muttered "Lumos" and a faint glow of light surrounded her bed.

"I just -- I mean how soon can we leave?" Angelina asked. She was beginning to feel guilty for waking her mum up so early, especially since no one from Hogwarts would be at King's Cross at this hour anyway.

"If something had gone wrong we would have heard about it by now." Her mother said. "_That's_ what makes the papers."

Angelina grinned half-heartedly. She knew that was true, but the Ministry would try to cover up if something more went wrong wouldn't they?

But of course, nothing was wrong.

"I know. I'm sorry for waking you up."

"Don't worry Angie." Her mother said softly, stifling her yawn. "I understand. We'll leave as early as it makes sense to, okay? Try to get some sleep."

Angelina stepped forward a gave her mother a hug, sinking for a minute into the warm comfort her mum provided. She could remember being four years old and scared of monsters -- when her mother was pregnant with Julie and she was still an only child. She would come tiptoeing as fast as she could down the hall and there would be her mother to make the monsters disappear.

But this monster couldn't disappear, she knew, as she straightened back up. Not until she knew the twins were safe.

It was two and a half more hours before Angelina heard people stirring downstairs, the clank of pots and pans, and the feet pounding in their race for the bathroom that told her Julie and Emma were awake. She sat up from her hazy half-sleep and for a minute considered writing another letter. Maybe her first ones had been delayed somehow. Maybe Jasmine had made a mistake.

She stood, her head slightly fuzzy, and walked over to her owl's case.

"Hey Jas," she said quietly, sticking her fingers through the bars, "did you go to the right place?"

Jas looked at her for a minute, her eyes wide, and then blinked. Angelina smiled slightly. "I'll take that as a yes."

There was no point, she knew, in sending another letter. But she sat down at her desk anyway, grabbed quill and parchment, and wrote, "Dear Fred" before she scratched it out and went down to breakfast.

"Morning Angie." Her mother said. She was at the stove, her back turned, but Angelina knew what she would look like. Her face would be scrunched in concentration and the tip of her tongue would be sticking out of her mouth.

As if on cue the smell of burning bacon filled the kitchen. Julie came rushing down the stairs, her hair still wet, having clearly won the battle for the shower.

"Mum! Here, let me do that --"

Julie took over, her wand prodding at the bacon until the smoke subsided. Technically Julie was underage, but she was also the only person in the house who could do any cooking spells that were better than decent. Most mornings mum gave into the inevitable and used a Muggle toaster, but on weekends she occasionally attempted to cook with magic, usually with less than impressive results.

Angelina stifled a smile as mum watched Julie cook, frowning.

"I don't know what I do wrong." She said finally, throwing up her arms. "Flick the wrist, say the spell --"

Emma came bursting down the stairs. "Ready to go!" She announced happily.

Angelina took in her youngest sister's appearance. She was seven years old and she had donned Angelina's old robes, which were at least two sizes to big. The black sleeves extended at least six inches further than Emma's hands. The final touch was the clasp, which was pinned on crookedly, and her hair, which was in a messy bun.

"Emma sweetie," Angelina said, suppressing a smile, "those are a little big for you."

Emma frowned. "I'll get 'em fixed, just like you did last year. At Madame Malkin's."

Mum didn't bother to hold back her smile.

"In a couple more years Em." She promised. "You will have your own robes. Alright?"

Emma's face transformed from her best winning smile into a pout almost instantly. "I wanna go to Hogwarts!"

She protested.

"I'll tell you what," Angelina said, "you just wait four years, four tiny little years, and Julie'll take you herself. Okay?"

Emma didn't look completely reassured, but she did not voice another protest. She turned and climbed back up the stairs, the robes trailing behind her and her bun falling apart.

* * *

They arrived at King's Cross about a half an hour later, Angelina hurrying ahead of everyone else, her own hair coming out of its semi-neat bun. 

"Angie!" She heard Julie protesting from behind her, but she was already through the barrier pushing her cart.

Platform 9 and 3/4 was teeming with activity. Kids rushing around, calling to their parents, calling for their pets, their friends, or even their luggage. Despite her worry Angelina smiled. This was Hogwarts and she wasn't even at Hogwarts yet. But searching the crowd for a telltale flash of orange hair she saw nothing.

Just then however she felt something collide with her back and there was a shrill screech in her ear.

"Ange!" Angelina turned as best she could while she was being held in something that resembled a death grip.

"Hey Katie." Angelina said with a grin. "Long time no see."

The truth was that they had just seen each other two weeks ago at Alicia Spinnet's house, but Angelina wouldn't expect Katie to be anything but absolutely thrilled to see her. Katie never seemed to be lacking in energy for any occasion.

Angelina managed to pull herself back enough to get a much needed gulp of air and grin. At least, she almost did before Katie drew a deep breath herself and glued her eyes to something just behind Angelina's head. A split second later Katie was looking determinedly away and an excited voice was shouting to Angelina and Katie.

"Hello ladies! Devastated as I'm sure you are without me, have no fear -- Lee Jordan is here!"

Angelina grinned and Katie smiled through her blush. Lee grinned as he arrived to stand next to the two girls. "Three down, three to go!"

Angelina felt a crunch in her stomach that reminded her that she still didn't know what had happened to Fred and George. Lee's face fell just as Katie's did.

"Yeah." Angelina said, trying to sound enthusiastic instead of worried. Katie managed to muster up a small smile to direct at Lee.

"So...how was your summer?" Katie asked, clutching at the straws of normal conversation.

"Alright." Lee said with a shrug. "Dad went to the Quidditch World Cup. Won the seat from his poker buddies."

He laughed. "Actually won something and he didn't win a seat for me."

Angelina grinned and slung an arm around Lee's shoulders. "Fred and George will be more than happy to reenact if for you when they get here I'm sure. They'll want to lord it over all of us."

She bit her tongue almost immediately afterwards, realizing that once again she had introduced the frightening and unknown element into their easy conversation -- the twins. Where _were _they?

The platform was filling up now with families, and Angelina still couldn't spot the Weasleys. She could tell that Katie and Lee were both searching the sea of faces as well, for freckles or a flash of red hair. But it was a female face that she recognized next -- Alicia Spinnet, searching cautiously through the crowd for her friends.

"Alicia!" Katie yelled, but to no avail. Angelina grinned and did her best imitation of Oliver Wood -- loud, angry, and sick of waiting for _someone_ to get into their Quidditch robes.

"SPINNET!"

Alicia jumped and turned to see Angelina, Katie, and Lee standing in a cluster in the middle of the mass of families. Her face broke into a smile and she pushed her way over to them.

"Hey! Seen the twins yet?"

They were the first words out of her mouth, and Angelina almost visibly winced. The twins would be here. They would. They were _fine_.

"Nah." Katie said, bringing her hand up to her mouth to chew her fingernails. Alicia automatically reached out and swatted her wrist, and Katie gave her a mock-glare.

"Sorry mum."

"I happen to like your mum." Alicia said with a grin. "I'm honored."

"Oh shut up. She had me up at the crack of dawn this morning --"

"That was eight-thirty am I right?" Angelina asked with a smile. To Katie, the crack of dawn was any time before eleven.

"You shut up too." Katie said angrily. Lee listened to the three girls with a smile.

"Merlin you're like an old married couple."

"Couple?" Alicia asked with a wry smile, indicating the three of them.

"Trio." Lee corrected with a grin.

"An old married trio." Alicia repeated slowly. "Huh. Well I'd say we've got bigger problems than the bickering then."

"More important than bickering?" A voice asked from behind them. "Blasphemy!"

Angelina whirled around to find Fred and George Weasley standing behind her, grinning.

Without further ado Angelina threw her arms around both of them at the same time, and then with a sudden thought, pulled back and narrowly resisted the urge to knock their heads together. It was in fact only Alicia's hand on her arm that stopped her.

"What is _wrong_ with you two?" She said, halfway to a shout. "You didn't even write! None of us knew what had happened to you! You couldn't be bothered to even write, after the bloody Prophet ran an article about _Death Eaters _at the _Quidditch World Cup_!"

Alicia's eyes were sparking with relief and anger, and Katie was frowning at all four of them, waiting for a plausible explanation, or at least an apology.

"We -- Ange --" George protested, then caught Alicia's gaze and clamped his mouth shut. Fred didn't say a word.

"You did have us a bit worried mate." Lee admitted, thumping them both on the back.

"Just a _bit_." Alicia said, more sarcasm seeping into her tone than usual.

"Look, we wrote a bloody letter, alright?" George said.

"You -- what?" Angelina stared, her face a mass of confusion and embarrassment. Alicia wasn't quite ready to give in yet.

"When?" She asked in an even, neutral voice, her eyes still sharp.

"Yesterday." Fred admitted, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"Yesterday?!" Angelina's fury had a sudden and immediate resurgence. "You couldn't have written it any sooner? We didn't know what had happened. You could have died for all we knew!"

"I -- look we didn't die, alright? Nobody died." George said. Fred appeared to have been once again stunned into silence.

Alicia stood for a moment, biting her lip, and then allowed her thirst for information to overcome her anger. "Just -- you could have written a little sooner." She pointed out quietly, then added, "So no one died? Do they think it was a contained incident, or...?"

The twins' shoulders slumped with relief. They had forgiveness from Alicia at least. But Angelina very pointedly turned and talked with Katie as they all boarded the train, and while she sat in the same compartment with everyone else she sat as far away as possible from the twins.

* * *

The train roared to life precisely on time, as it had every year for the past five years, and the group of six fell into conversation, a tradition almost as established as the train ride itself. But this year the conversation was strangely off kilter, because Angelina still wasn't speaking to the twins, and even Alicia wasn't talking to them nearly as much as she would have otherwise. The twins kept exchanging uneasy glances with each other, and Lee tried his best to fill the frequent gaps in conversation. It was almost a relief when the food trolley was rolled past the compartment. Angelina jumped up and hurried to the cart and Alicia followed her. 

"Listen Ange --"

"Don't pretend you're not mad at them. They could've been -- hurt. Or in trouble. That'd be just like them, wouldn't it? And they couldn't even take the time to write a letter --"

"I know." Alicia said simply, studying the candy selection. "But imagine if you had just come back from a magical sporting event that was interrupted by Death Eaters, right before school started. You'd be a bit busy I'd guess. It doesn't make it that much better, but it makes it...understandable."

"That's certainly the rational way to look at it." Angelina said bluntly, grabbed a Pumpkin Pasty and two Chocolate Frogs and reclaimed her seat in the compartment. Alicia sighed, hesitated for a moment, and followed her.

"So, summers?" She asked after a moment's silence.

Lee shrugged. "Mine was alright. Kinda boring really. Lots of sitting around. I'm starting to think we should get that Muggle stuff -- air conditioning. Dad and I aren't any good at the Cooling Charms, and mom's always wear off halfway through the day."

"Katie could teach you to do a proper one." Alicia pointed out. "She got awfully good at them last year."

"Could you?" Lee asked hopefully, and Katie managed to keep her blush minimal.

"I could try." Katie said with a slight smile. "No guarantees. I'm not sure I'm teacher material."

"I think you're the best candidate out of this particular group." George said with a grin. "Alicia excepted."

Alicia shook her head, but she was smiling. "I'm not any good at Cooling Charms, trust me. Mine usually end up going about ten degrees to far."

Angelina grinned. "Last year in June the Cooling Charm wore off of our dorm and Alicia tried to fix it herself --"

"Angie!"

"-- and it almost started snowing." Angelina finished triumphantly. Alicia grinned sheepishly as the compartment erupted with laughter.

"Are you trying to tell us Alicia did something..." Lee paused for dramatic effect, his eyes comically wide. "...wrong?"

"That would be the gist of it, yes." Alicia said dryly. "There's a first time for everything after all."

The laughter burst out again, Alicia smiling triumphantly.

But Angelina's grin abruptly faded when she caught Fred's eyes, and Fred frowned, then stood. "Could I talk to you outside then?"

Angelina's eyes widened as Fred opened the compartment door and stepped outside without waiting. She frowned and remained in her seat, her arms folded. She was aware that she was acting a bit childishly, but she had every right to expect a _letter_.

_Of course, _said a little voice in the back of her head, _they sent one._

"Oh go on Angie." Katie said, reaching over to shove her. Alicia said nothing, but raised her eyebrows when Angelina looked to her for support, and then shrugged a tad uncomfortably.

"We did send a letter Angie." George said hesitantly, and Angelina gave a resigned sigh and slipped out into the corridor.

Fred was standing with his hands in his pockets, still frowning. He looked up when she emerged from the compartment.

"Look, we sent you a letter." He said immediately. "What more do you want?"

Angelina could feel her temper rising again. "I wanted a letter sent before last _night_!"

"We were _busy_." Fred said through gritted teeth. "Mum was having some kind of nervous breakdown, and then we got yelled at for a while, and there was the packing to do after that --"

Angelina knew that these were all plausible reasons, but somehow, it didn't matter. They'd -- he'd -- known she was worried, and it hadn't mattered. He still hadn't sent a letter.

"But -- look couldn't you have written just a little sooner?" She asked. She was surprised at how quiet her voice was, and how strained. The worry of the last few days was seeping into her words and her actions, coloring her view. She knew that, clearly, for the first time all day.

Fred took a deep breath and spread out his hands, palm up.

"I'm sorry. Alright? We should've written sooner. We just -- didn't."

It wasn't perfect. But there were a lot of people who wouldn't have gotten even that much of an apology from Fred Weasley -- not over a letter. He was one of her best friends in the world -- otherwise, she thought with a start, she wouldn't have cared anywhere near as much. She felt words bubbling up into her throat, protests and explanations for her behavior, pointless exclamations.

"You --" She began, and stopped. What was she going to say? You could've gotten killed? You're my best friend. I was _worried_?

"Never mind." She said after a pause. They weren't fighting any more. She wanted to keep it that way.

Fred caught her eyes and smiled. "We're...good?" He hurried on. "I shouldn't expect any frogs in my bed, assorted hexes, curses, or jinxes?"

"Not for this." Angelina said grinning, opened the compartment door, and slipped back inside.

"So," George said, meeting the eyes of his twin and visibly relaxing as the pair reentered the compartment, "rumor has it that something intriguing is going to happen at Hogwarts this year. Anyone up for guessing?"

"Dragon wrestling." Angelina said immediately, and laughter, genuine, all-inclusive laughter filled the compartment.

Comfortable tradition took over once more as the train moved steadily towards Hogwarts and a year that would be anything but traditional.

* * *

_A/N: Whoo. That's got to be the longest first chapter I've ever written. :P I'm really excited about this project. There may be a gap in updates in July, but beyond that I've got this baby outlined, and some parts already written. So you can expect fairly regular updates. All reviewer replies for this story will be hosted at my LiveJournal, which you can find a link to in my profile. I'll be reminding at the start of each new chapter. I've always wanted to do reviewer responses. : )  
_


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